Understanding Dyslexia In Children albertwatson By albertwatson
Oct 4, 2014
If a child is unable to recognize letters, finds it difficult to rhyme, is slow to learn the sounds of letters, reads slowly, has poor spellings, or has problem in decoding unknown words, then most probably, the child is suffering from Dyslexia, which is a common learning disability. Dyslexia in children is a common problem; however, most of the time, it goes undiagnosed and untreated and this causes problems in the later stage. The problem occurs in the brain and it can be easily treated if diagnosed at an early stage. Both parents and teachers can help a child overcome the problem by being considerate and recognizing the symptoms on time.
If a child has dyslexia
Dyslexia is a specific reading disorder of neurobiological origin. Of the language based learning disabilities, dyslexia is the most common. It is estimated that 1 in 5 school-aged children have a reading disability and of those children, 60% to80% have dyslexia (Dyslexia Center of Utah, 2016). Dyslexia is highly hereditary but can occur without any known family history. Early signs of dyslexia can be overlooked until the child enters school, unless there’s a family history in which case the child might be identified sooner. Some early signs are speech delay, difficulty with word retrieval and difficulty acquiring new vocabulary. They may also demonstrate difficulty remembering how to pronounce words correctly (International Dyslexia Association, 2016). Once the child begins school, the signs will become more apparent. Unlike their peers, in the early pre-literacy and early stages of reading, children with dyslexia may exhibit difficulty learning the alphabet and acquiring the alphabetic principle. Mastery of the alphabetic principle is what allows the reader to decode novel words. Individuals with dyslexia have difficulty with phonological processing, a necessary building block for the development of reading proficiency and consequently writing as it affects the ability to spell. Other indicators are difficulty with working memory and poor results in rapid automatized naming tasks. They may exhibit age appropriate spoken language and listening comprehension skills but
Dyslexia is the term used to describe a cognitive disability in learning that affects reading, writing and communication despite an average level of intelligence and an equal access to education. (Le Jan et al., 2010). Dyslexia is commonly used as a blanket term that covers many smaller forms of cognitive impairment including surface dyslexia, phonological dyslexia, hyperlexia, letter identification dyslexia and letter position dyslexia. Most dyslexics suffer from multiple forms of these specific dyslexias and cases of pure developmental dyslexia are quite rare. (Castles, Bates, & Coltheart, 2006).
Dyslexia refers to a specific difficulty in learning to read and write. However this is not the only difficulty that children with dyslexia experience and there are variations of their symptoms. These problems appear to stem from fundamental difficulties in the rapid processing and sequencing of phonological information in short term memory. These children also have difficulties with associations with letters and their sounds. Learning their left from right also is difficult. In the
The National Centre for Learning Disabilities says that dyslexia is a neurological and often genetic condition, and not the result of poor teaching, instruction or upbringing. Dyslexia is a specific reading disability due to a defect in the brain's processing of graphic symbols according to the MNT Knowledge Centre. It is a learning disability that alters the way the brain processes written material. It is typically characterized by difficulties in word recognition, spelling and decoding. People with dyslexia have problems with reading comprehension.
D needs some time to walk into the clinic room and get settled down before starting our session.
A child with dyslexia has difficulty recognizing words, spelling and decoding which may cause problems at school when reading or writing is involved. If a child with dyslexia is asked to read out loud they may be perceived as a slow reader and also labeled as less
My dad once told me “Homework first and fun after”, telling me that if I worked hard enough that I could have all the fun in the world.
Children with Dyslexia have trouble with reading and spelling. Some children do not seem to struggle with early reading and writing. They have trouble with complex language skills, such as grammar, reading comprehension and more in depth writing. Handwriting is a powerful treatment for a Dyslexic child. Dyslexic children may have low self esteem about themselves because people may think they’re better than them (Dr. Ryan 2). Children with this condition may have a lot of problems with learning things throughout their life. A Dyslexic child learn slower than regular children. Dyslexia in children can be treated with educational resources, specific therapies and medical interventions.
In kindergarten i discovered that learn differently from other kids. I noticed that other kids could speak better than i can, that they already knew their letters. This is when My mother found out that i have dyslexia and ADHD. as soon as my mother found out she sent me to a speech therapist and put me into torturing so that i could catch up to the other kids. I ended up having to repeat kindergarten due to my dyslexia. To this day i am embarrassed to tell people that i failed kindergarten, but i’m learning that it's not something to embarrassed about, but something to be proud of. I am proud to have dyslexia because i learned how to overcome that challenge.
Helping a child with dyslexia to do their homework and projects can be a challenge for parents and family members. Parents of a child with dyslexia can help them improve their school experience by keeping an open communication with the child and their teachers. First and foremost the parents should talk to their child about Dyslexia. The child might have questions or concerns about their learning disability. A parent must provide knowledge, reassurance and support in order to understand their condition. It is important to inform the child that this is something they where born with and that it will not go away although they can learn to handle it. As the child with Dyslexia faces emotional and academic challenges he or she may lose confidence in themselves. Support and acceptance from a parent is critical in this matter.
Of the three previously mentioned diseases, Dyslexia impairs a person’s ability to read, write, and spell (NINDS 2003). Although they are of normal intelligence, their reading level is below average. They will usually have “trouble with phonological processing (the manipulation of sounds) and/or rapid visual-verbal responding.” (NINDS 2003). Children with dyslexia complain they cannot read their textbooks, do not have enough time to finish tests, cannot take notes, and are unable to read their own handwriting (GVSU 2000). Dyslexia does not affect every person the same way, and signs of the disorder may not be prevalent until later, when grammar and more in-depth writing skills are introduced. Dyslexia can also create a difficulty in processing vocabulary and thoughts correctly when speaking, and understanding what one says when they are spoken to. Dysgraphia is another neurological disorder that focuses on writing. When a child with this disorder is first introduced to writing, they will make unnecessary spaces between their letters, and some letters will be
In the school education, the aim of education is balancing all children’s development in order to achieve success in life. But in recent years, more and more children experience difficulty acquiring academic skills. There is a set of data which indicate that almost 50 per cent of people under the age of 24 in Canada easily have a group of disorders that affect academic and functional skills including the ability to speak, listen, read, write, spell, organize information, and do math (Statistics Canada, 2012). These people are referred to as having learning disabilities. According to Turkington (2003), Rief and Stern(2010) defined, a learning disability is a neurobiological disorder which affects a person’s brain works to receive, process,
The long disputed debate about the primary cause of dyslexia is still very much alive in the field of psychology. Dyslexia is commonly characterized as a reading and writing impairment that affects around 5% of the global population. The disorder has frequently been hypothesized to be the result of various sensory malfunctions. For over a decade, studies have made major contributions to the disorder's etiology; however, scientists are still unclear of its specific causal. Initially, dyslexia was thought to be a reading disorder in children and adults (1). Later it was suggested to consist of both a visual and writing component, therefore characterizing it as more of a learning disability which
, & Kline, W. , 2006). Children who suffer dyslexia have difficulty in using their auditory memory skill since they have a limited function in their long-term memory in their brain. They just remember the information which often be heard or seen in their daily activity.
One of my primary focuses was to find out how different literatures dealt with Dyslexia and how best to support the child. Dyslexia can be described from a number of different perspectives as we see in Ball et al (2007) who explain that it can be “how one learns (Cognition), what parts of the brain are involved (neurology), what genes are involved (genetics) and behaviour (p14). Their book entitled ‘Dyslexia: An Irish perspective’ is very relevant to my research as it gives a great insight into the history of the special education sector in Ireland. It also looks into some of the key debates that are facing the educational sector today.